Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Jan 10, 2025 / 18:10 pm
The Jan. 10 inauguration of a vast church on the very spot where Jesus Christ was baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River was an event of significant symbolic importance, both spiritually and diplomatically.
It also reflected the Hashemite kingdom’s determination to establish itself as an essential stop-off point for pilgrims to the Holy Land as well as a haven of peace for the world’s Christian faithful, who are increasingly reluctant to travel to a region torn apart by geopolitical and ethnic-religious conflicts.
“So many biblical events and figures meet here that we could say that this place embraces the entire expectation of the Old Testament as directed to the coming of Christ, the manifestation of the Father,” said the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at the ceremony of consecration of the altar on Friday morning, also attended by the patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, grandson of King Talal of Jordan and cousin of King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Initiated following the donation by the king of a 30,000-square-meter (almost-7.5-acre) plot of land on the outskirts of the historic site of Al-Maghtas (also known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan, in the Qafra region) in 2003, the project was completed just in time for the silver jubilee of the grand annual pilgrimage, which for the past 25 years has taken place every January around the feast of the Baptism of Christ. This jubilee also coincides with the celebrations of the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee.
One of the largest churches in the Middle East
The whole historic baptism site was identified and classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site some 20 years ago. It has since then been the subject of extensive enhancement work carried out by the Jordanian authorities and transformed into a natural tourist park that is still in expansion.
Run by the Congregation of the Incarnate Word (IVE), the new Catholic church covers an area of approximately 2,200 square meters (almost 24,000 square feet) and is now one of the largest in the Middle East, alongside the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It is the fruit of several years’ collaboration between the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Jordanian architect Nadim Muasher, a member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. It was Pope Benedict XVI who, during a visit to Jordan in 2009, laid the foundation stone for the building, alongside King Abdullah II.
The project, funded by the patriarchate and a number of charities, also benefited from a donation of almost 1 million euros from the Hungarian government through its “Hungary Helps” program, designed to support Christian communities in difficulty around the world.
The church was built of “tafouhi,” a yellowish stone from Hebron in the West Bank, while its stained-glass windows were made in Lebanon in a style intended to resemble that of the medieval Chartres Cathedral in France. The altar consecrated by Parolin at the inaugural Mass houses the relics of St. John Paul II and the Holy Martyrs of Damascus. The ceremony was attended by some 6,000 faithful — including about 1,000 inside the building — according to an estimate by the Jordan Tourism Board. Among them were approximately 100 priests and 15 bishops from several countries.
Renewing our baptism
Parolin’s homily focused on the mystery of a God who chose to offer himself as a sacrifice for the salvation of mankind. Drawing an analogy with the fact that this Jordanian region is considered the lowest geographical point in the world, the cardinal pointed out that “it is precisely here that God came to meet us, as if to gather into his embrace also those from afar” and that “God’s providence has also seen to it that the Church we consecrate today shares the same axis as the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.”
Recalling that baptism marks “the beginning of immortal life in us,” he also called for this place to become “a privileged place for all believers to renew their own baptism and their commitment,” especially during the holy year that has just begun.
In fact, the new church has also been designated as a place of pilgrimage for believers, who can receive a plenary indulgence during the 2025 celebrations that have the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.”
Closeness with Middle Eastern Christians
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Parolin also stated that his presence at this symbolic event was intended to offer “a tangible sign of closeness” from the whole Church toward the Christian communities of the Middle East, especially in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has been raging on the other side of the Jordan River since October 2023 and which has involved neighboring countries, especially Lebanon.
The fate of Christians in the region has been made even more uncertain by the recent fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in neighboring Syria to radical Islamic groups.
“I would like to encourage everyone not to be overwhelmed by the grave difficulties of the present time and to trust that God guides human history, however much it bears the scars of violence, sin, and death,” Parolin said.
Echoing his subsequent call for peace and the release of prisoners and hostages, Pizzaballa urged prayer for “all those who suffer in their countries due to a lack of security, stability, and peace,” stressing that Jordan was an exception in the region.
Efforts to preserve Christian heritage
This country with a strong Muslim majority (97%), which nevertheless boasts numerous biblical pilgrimage sites, has borne the brunt of the ongoing conflicts, seeing its tourist numbers drop by almost 70% over the past year.
“We dedicate this church to be at the service of Jordanian citizens in the first place and to serve the people of the Arab region who make pilgrimages to Jordan,” Pizzaballa said during a press conference prior to the dedication Mass, adding that he also wanted to extend an invitation to other friendly countries. “Come, and do not be afraid,” he said. “Jordan is a safe and stable country.”
And to encourage the country’s Christians (2.1%) — who have historically formed a socioeconomic elite — not to emigrate and to persuade tourists from the Christian world, particularly the West, to visit, the Hashemite authorities have strongly engaged in a series of ambitious heritage restoration and enhancement projects. They hope these initiatives will make the kingdom an essential stopover for pilgrims to the Holy Land.
In an interview with the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on the eve of the inauguration of the Baptism Church, Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso, the apostolic nuncio to Jordan, praised the government’s efforts to promote the Christian presence in the territory. He cited as an example the speed with which it approved a financing plan for the complete restoration of the archaeological site of Machaerus, the place of imprisonment and execution of St. John the Baptist, which had been left to decay for decades.
“Jordan is much to thank for the humanitarian aid and diplomatic mediation it has provided in recent years in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and this may have overshadowed other notable aspects,” he said.
He also sees in these lasting commitments a beneficial opportunity for rapprochement between this country, which plays a strategic role in the region, and the Christian world.
“This policy above all reveals and values what Jordan is and possesses,” he concluded, adding that it sounds like an effective reminder that “Christianity is not something foreign to the Arab world but is an integral part of it.”
This reminder is all the more crucial, in his view, as this re-rooting in a centuries-old history is the key guarantor of the region’s stability.
Solène Tadié is the Europe Correspondent for the National Catholic Register. She is French-Swiss and grew up in Paris. After graduating from Roma III University with a degree in journalism, she began reporting on Rome and the Vatican for Aleteia. She joined L’Osservatore Romano in 2015, where she successively worked for the French section and the Cultural pages of the Italian daily newspaper. She has also collaborated with several French-speaking Catholic media organizations. Solène has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
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